After acquisition, bank looks ahead to changes

By Brian Pedersen,
December 23, 2013 at 10:00 AM
- Last modified: December 23, 2013 at 10:32 AM

Now that Team Capital Bank, headquartered in Bethlehem, has been acquired by a New Jersey-based bank, both financial institutions are looking ahead to what changes this will bring.

On Friday, Provident Financial Services Inc. of Iselin, N.J., acquired Team Capital for a combination of stock and cash valued at $117 million. The Provident Bank will acquire Team Capital’s five-branch Pennsylvania network and seven branches in New Jersey, but a name change is not imminent.

“I don’t think that’s a decision that’s been made yet,” said Robert Rupel, Team Capital’s president and CEO.

Provident Bank will be incorporated throughout the Team Capital Bank branches, said Chris Martin, chairman, president and CEO of Provident Financial Services.

Rupel estimated that the deal would close during the second quarter of 2014.

Martin confirmed that the deal, which is subject to regulatory approval, should close at that time. He said a transition would take place during that time, which would include changing signage.

“They do not plan on closing any branches and they plan on retaining our lending staff and people closer to the customer,” Rupel said. “They are very committed to Pennsylvania, very interested in continuing to grow in Pennsylvania.”

After the deal closes, Provident Bank will have about $8.3 billion in assets and a combined network of 90 branches in 13 counties in New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

“It now makes us part of an $8 billion bank, it gives us more sophisticated products,” Rupel said. “It allows us to deal with upper middle market and larger companies.”

With the merger and acquisition market picking up this year, Rupel said Team Capital’s board of directors continued investigating options and after a strategic review, the organization’s investment bank advisors indicated to the board that an acquisition could be beneficial.

Provident has $264 million of commercial real estate loans in Pennsylvania, but it’s almost entirely in Lehigh Valley, Martin said.

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Brian Pedersen

Reporter Brian Pedersen covers construction, development, warehousing and real estate and keeps you up to date on the changing landscape of our community. He can be reached at brianp@lvb.com or 610-807-9619, ext. 108. Follow him on Twitter @BrianLehigh and read his blog, “Can You Dig It,” at http://www.lvb.com/section/can-you-dig-it.

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